Roasted Eggplant and Butternut Squash with Tahini-Yogurt Sauce

This Roasted Eggplant and Butternut Squash with Tahini-Yogurt Sauce is a fantastic vegetarian main course. Make it for the holidays or dinner parties. Roast everything on one sheet pan.

Photography Credit:
Sheryl Julian

You don’t need to work very hard to make this vegetarian dish look stunning. The vegetables are so colorful!

This is golden eggplant is the dish I make whenever we have company for dinner and there are vegetarians among us or I feel like something a little lighter is in order. Even the carnivores among us like a meatless meal once in a while, and besides, eggplant is such a meaty vegetable!

I roast the eggplant halves in a very hot oven until they char, and then serve them topped them with more vegetables and a yogurt-tahini sauce. Right now, I’m using roasted butternut squash and red onions for the vegetables, but you can also use whatever vegetables are in season.

Every once in a while, you get an eggplant that’s bitter, and it’s impossible to tell which ones they are just by looking. To avoid any potential bitterness in your finished dish, salt the halved eggplants and let the juices run out. Then rinse and pat dry before cooking.

It’s a quick step – called “degorger” in French – and it’s worth the extra time you have to wait.

Serve the cooked, charred eggplant with pilaf on the side, and you have a satisfying supper with vibrant colors, a little heat, crunch, aromatics, and a cooling sauce. The guests at my table are always delighted.

Method

1 Make the yogurt-tahini sauce: In a bowl, whisk the yogurt, tahini, and lemon juice until smooth. Taste for seasoning and add salt and pepper, if you like.

2 Prep and salt the eggplant: Cut the eggplant in half lengthwise. Use the tip of a paring knife to score the cut sides in a cross-hatch pattern about 1/2 inch deep.

Sprinkle with salt and set the eggplant on a large rimmed baking sheet, cut side up, for 30 minutes. You’ll see liquid coming out of the cuts.

After 30 minutes are up, rinse the eggplant and pat dry with paper towels. Use the towels to wipe the baking sheet.

3 Roast the eggplant and squash: Heat the oven to 450 degrees F. Set the eggplant halves on the baking sheet cut sides up. Brush with 3 tablespoons of the olive oil and sprinkle with cumin. Arrange the sliced butternut in the spaces between the halves, and sprinkle with 1 tablespoon of the olive oil and salt.

Roast the eggplant and butternut for 35 to 40 minutes, or until the eggplant is golden brown, the squash is browned on the bottom, and both are tender when pierced with a skewer. If the eggplant isn’t browned, remove the butternut from the baking sheet and continue cooking the eggplant for 5 more minutes.

Keep the eggplant warm covered loosely with foil on the top of the stove while you finish the vegetable topping.

4 Make the vegetable topping: In a large bowl, combine the red onion, vinegar, and a pinch of salt. Let them sit for 5 minutes to mellow the onion. With a large spoon, stir in the remaining 2 tablespoons oil.

Transfer the roasted butternut to a cutting board and cut into 1/2-inch pieces. Fold the butternut, jalapeno, and parsley into the bowl with the onions. Taste for seasoning and add more salt and pepper, if you like.

5 Plate and serve: Scoop the pilaf on a serving platter, or divide between 4 plates. Add the eggplant halves and top with the butternut mixture. Drizzle with yogurt sauce and serve the remaining sauce separately.

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Sheryl Julian is an award-winning writer, editor, and food stylist. She is the former food editor of The Boston Globe, co-author of The Way We Cook, and editor of The New Boston Globe Cookbook. Her food sections won Best Newspaper Food Coverage from the Association of Food Journalists in 2015.

7 Comments / Reviews

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cjr

Excellent! I caramelized 2x the amount of shallots, thinly sliced, in 1T olive oil and added a splash of balsamic to deglaze the pan, substituting for the red onions and also tossed the squash with about a tsp of honey. I like cilantro, so used that instead of parsley. The textures and complementary flavors are outstanding!

I thought this was very good! I didn’t have yogurt, so subbed sour cream. Subbed cilantro for parsley. And I added sweet Italian sausage to the veggie mixture. It only served two of us because it was SO tasty! Highly recommend this recipe.

OMG! So, good! I have made this recipe twice this week. I reduced the lemon juice in the sauce to half, and substituted a Tb of dried parsley for the fresh (fresh is too strong for me). But the resulting combination of tastes and textures is amazing. And yes, I ate the remaining tahini sauce with a spoon!

Yes, looks wonderful! Question (the answer probably obvious to most everyone else) – which side face down on the paper towel for the salted eggplant to let the juices run out? The salted scoured side face down on the paper towel?